Category Archives: Competition

Whats New with Marty (Catorce de Mayo Edition)

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I just wanted to make a quick post to point out a new feature, an upcoming addition, and to talk about what’s in store in the coming months for my games and my web endeavors. I’ve got some neat stuff planned, and I hope that there will be something for everyone here when it’s all said and done.

User Registration at Marty Blog

This was actually a request of a friend of mine. I’ve now opened registration up on the blog, which means that, if you so choose, you can now register as a Subscriber, login, and have the site remember your user details for when you post. Frankly, I should have done this sooner. You can still comment without registering though, so if you’re not the type who likes to register, everything is just as it was before!

Games On the Way

If you’ve read up on the archives of this blog or poked around a bit, you’ve noticed that part of the reason why I created it was to replace my old games site with something easier to maintain and with broader use. You might have also noticed that, while my examples have made the jump from old site to new, my games haven’t – but I aim to change that soon. Within the next week or so I’ll be adding a special page to house my games, with better descriptions, control explanations, etc. so don’t forget to check that out (especially if you haven’t played all of the games yet!).

Reflect Games Site Update

It’s been a long time in the making, but I am slowly moving closer to releasing the new version of the Reflect Games website. The changes are a mixed bag of functional and aesthetic improvements, and will include a friends list, credit store, highscore page, improved stats and profiles, and a lot more. Though all the new features will not justify the amount of time it’s taken me to finish, I think the site will look more professional and will offer more reasons for people to create and use Reflect accounts. I’ll post more about this when I draw closer to the update.

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GDC08, Sandbox of God 2

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GDC08

Hey, I’m back from my blog hiatus! Miss me? I thought so.

As anyone who’s followed my various exploits over the years might have guessed from my lack of posting, I’ve been a busy guy lately. This is partially due to my job, to my constant tinkering with Game Maker, to my spending time with my girlfriend, to a minor car accident, and to various other endeavors that will go unsaid. Don’t worry though – all is well with Marty. I’m just a teeny, tiny bit tired right now, and barring some sort of spontaneous bout of sleep, I’ll do my best to talk about some new stuff here before I sign off tonight.

First though, since pictures are worth a lot more words than I could (or would) ever type here, I’ve got an image for you:

Pretty neat eh? If all goes according to plan, I’ll hopefully be able to take a little time off from work tomorrow and go check out the expo at GDC 2008. I’m pretty excited about it!

And if it turns out that I can’t go, well… at least I got a chance to hit San Francisco for a while earlier in the week. And I’ve got some good (and legally burned) tunes, and a wireless headset for my 360 / PC gaming needs. Call of Duty 4′s been a blast lately.

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Finished Winter Comp Entry!

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Sun Sun Der

I guess it’s a bit late to announce this here, 5 days after I actually submitted the game to YoYoGames for judging, but what the heck – I feel much more energized after a nice relaxing holiday at my parent’s house, and I figure it’s time to push the game a little bit. So without further ado, my YYG Winter Competition is finally finished!

I present to you the winter-themed SHMUP, Sun Sun Der! Here’s a quick link to play at YoYGames.com, more information below!

The spirits that govern the balance of hot and cold on the earth are in turmoil – on the Winter Solstice 2007, the sun’s summer spirits refuse to leave. The goddess spirit of the winter, Friga, is sent to battle the summer and bring about the cold of winter once again!

Title screen Gameplay Gameplay

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YYG Winter Comp Entry… It’s crunch time!

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Sun Sun Der

Well, I had planned on doing a pretty extensive write-up about my thoughts on the integrity of some of the game media websites as of late, but for now I’m going to put this off. I am working very exclusively on my entry for the YoYo Games Winter Competition, trying to get everything finished for the December 23 deadline. It’s been quite hectic, and I’ll be glad when I can finally use my spare time to relax again!

That said, the game is coming along well. It’s not quite as big as I had hoped it might be in the beginning, but procrastination and other obligations have kept me from making it something huge for the sake of the competition. Depending on how well the game is received, I might just give it the Reflect treatment after all the dust has settled. And despite the frantic development schedule, it’s definitely been fun so far – I will be glad to have participated in the first YYG contest, regardless of the outcome (providing I finish, of course). At the very least, it’s been fun carving out a game in a genre I haven’t yet explored very much.

I’m finally ready to spill the beans on what exactly the game is though, so here goes! The name of the game is Sun Sun Der, and though it’s a pretty standard kind of “shmup,” I’ve been using the game Imperishable Night (a “bullet hell” style game) and some friendly advice from Cactus to mold the idea into something (hopefully) more memorable.

Title screen Gameplay

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GMC, YYG, OMG, & WTF

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There is much ado in the Game Maker community these days, thanks in large part to the recently announced YoYo Games Winter Competition. For those of you who haven’t yet heard it, YoYo Games is putting on a game creation contest which runs from now until December 23. The rules are pretty simple, and the game must follow a “winter” theme, in pretty much any way the developer can implement it. Not surprisingly, more than a few people have admitted to making a game centered around Christmas for the competition, and though I have to admit, it was tempting, I’ve already made a Christmas game, and frankly, I think there is a lot more to winter than the major holidays. We’ll see what people can come up with though; I have high hopes that we’ll see an explosion of creativity for this comp, from more than just the usual gang.

The title of this article is based on the typical reactions of some of the people who have heard about all this, especially the $1,000 grand prize. GMC, YYG, OMG, WTF indeed.

One thing I am really liking about the Winter Competition however, is that it’s given me a little bit more motivation to set aside all the games I’ve been playing, and re-focus on actually making something. That’s not to say that I will definitely be able to carve out my idea entirely by the contest deadline, but I am certainly going to try to – if the result is any good, it will be another fun game to add to the pile at Reflect Games, no matter how it does in the contest.

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